Read Colossians 1:20-23. Answer these questions:
1. Verse 19 tells us the first thing that God was pleased to do; verse 20 tells us the second thing. What is this second thing?
2. Through whom does God reconcile ‘all things’ to himself?
3. According to verse 20, what is another way of referring to this act of reconciliation?
4. What made this reconciliation possible?
5. What was it about humans that made reconciliation with God necessary?
6. What made us ‘enemies of God’?
7. Verse 22 mentions two things about Jesus Christ that God used to reconcile us to himself. What are they?
8. Verse 22 also mentions a surprising purpose/result of this reconciliation. What are the three aspects of the purpose/result of reconciliation?
9. Suggest what each of these means.
10. Verse 23 sets a condition for reconciliation and its results. What is that condition?
11. Does this infer salvation by works? If not, what does it mean?
12. How does Paul describe the gospel in verse 24?